OCEANSIDE ALARMED BY SHOOTINGS

2 teens killed at park with history of crime; authorities, community vow to halt violence

Oceanside residents and city officials, stunned by the Wednesday night shooting that left two teenagers dead and two wounded at Libby Lake Park — at the spot where a pair of teens were slain two years ago — talked Thursday about how to stop the violence.

The Oceanside police chief, the city manager, neighbors and friends of the teenagers hiked up the hillside throughout the day to gaze at the crime scene — with its growing memorial of flowers, candles and notes — and offer their thoughts.

“I wanted to look at it from a public-safety perspective,” said Police Chief Frank McCoy, as he walked through the park with City Manager Peter Weiss in the morning.

“I want to see what we can do to prevent anything like this from happening in the future,” McCoy said. “It’s just hard to grasp. I feel for the families. They are kids. I don’t even know if the parents knew where their kids were.”

Melanie Virgen, 13, and Edgar Sanchez, 15, were killed in the 8:50 p.m. shooting, according to friends and a spokeswoman for Melanie’s family.

Police said the two wounded boys were both under 18. They were taken to a hospital, where one lay in a coma with four gunshot wounds, a family member said Thursday.

Weiss said the four were sitting on a couch near a memorial for Fernando Solano, 16, and Sandra Salgado, 14, who were fatally gunned down in the park in May 2011.

Authorities made four arrests in that case and have said those slayings were gang-related, although the victims were not members of gangs.

Police said they do not have evidence to tie Wednesday’s slayings to gangs, but are continuing to investigate.

City Councilman Gary Felien called the shooting “a horrible tragedy.”

“We’re just all trying to absorb it. To the extent I speak for City Council, I think we’re all going to be united to try to come up with a solution to get that park under control for the good guys and take it back from the bad guys,” Felien said.

Felien said he’s scheduling a meeting with the police chief to look at options for improving safety in the park, including installation of security cameras.

“I certainly would like to find out why we can’t put up some kind of high-level cameras and have the park under surveillance of some kind,” Felien said. “They’d have to be out of reach so they can’t be vandalized, but I think they’d be a deterrent.”

Wednesday’s killings bring to three the number of homicides in Oceanside this year — all three victims were teens. Javier Luna, 16, was fatally stabbed on Jan. 29 near Center Avenue and Division Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood. Five suspected gang members have pleaded not guilty to the slaying.

On Thursday, friends and classmates of Melanie, Edgar and their wounded friends poured into the park, which borders Libby Lake Elementary School.

“This park is bad luck,” said 16-year-old Naomi Trevino. She said the spot is a popular hangout for kids.